Frame The Halves
by Duck Life
Summary: Chase tries to grapple with the fact that he could have killed Leo under control of the Triton App.


Chase finds Leo in the kitchen, trying to make a sandwich out of what little food they have left— two end pieces of bread, peanut butter and some old olives. They need Davenport's millions back _yesterday_.

"Hey," Chase says, not wanting to startle Leo by just popping up behind him. He's been hyperaware of that for the past few days, that he might scare Leo, that Adam and Bree might. If he's being totally honest, he gets a little nervous around Adam and Bree. The Triton App messed everything up, and reason's pretty much out the window. "I got you something."

Leo grins. "Is it a hover scooter?"

"No."

"Is it a holographic projector?"

"No."

"I may be losing interest."

Chase rolls his eyes. "Here," he says, holding out a small remote with three buttons on it. "I made this for you."

Leo takes it, examines it in his hands. "So," he says dully, "it opens the garage?"

"No," Chase says, almost looking reluctant to explain the gift. There's a tension in his shoulders that's been there for days. "The green button is for Adam. Blue is Bree, red is me." Leo still looks confused. "They're shutdown switches."

Suddenly Leo's grip on the remote gets a lot tighter. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Keep it on you," Chase tells him, panic and protectiveness warring in his tone. "All the time. I almost crushed you to death, Leo, and I can't risk that again. If we're ever being controlled like that again, if we ever get used against you like that, I need you to be able to shut us down."

Leo looks down at the remote thoughtfully, picturing Chase spending hours in the lab putting it together specifically to be used against himself and his brother and sister. He thinks about the work Chase put into it, the calculations and craftsmanship to build it just right.

And then Leo very purposefully drops it to the floor and stomps on it, hearing the crunch when the remote breaks.

Chase blanches. "What are you doing? Leo, you need that."

"No, I don't." Leo looks him in the eye, and he's still a few inches shorter but he's got a tall heart, and when he speaks it's with authority. "You didn't hurt me, Chase. You _wouldn't_. Even being controlled by your power-hungry egomaniacal Father-Uncle, you're still my brother. And I don't need an off switch. I trust you."

Panicked, Chase looks from the remains of the remote to Leo. "But what if—"

"No," Leo says firmly. " _You're my brother_. I mean it, alright? That's not just something I said so Scary Chase wouldn't turn me into a human pancake. You saved me. And if anyone ever tries to use the Triton App on you again—" he turns around and knocks on the wooden cutting board on the counter— "now I know how to get my brother back."

Without much warning, Chase hugs him.

"You know," Leo mumbles into Chase's shirt, "for a bunch of cyborgs you guys are really big on hugging."

Chase ignores him. "Thank you, Leo," he says finally when they break apart. "For bringing me back. And, you know, for teaching me how to be a brother."

Leo points finger guns at him and smiles. "Any time," he says. "That's what I'm here for. That and breaking your stuff." He nudges the pile of wreckage that was Chase's remote off to the side of the kitchen floor. "Now come on. I wanna see if my peanut butter and olive sandwich tastes any better with Adam's potato chip stash that he thinks is secret."

Leo heads for the lab and Chase sticks behind to clear up the mess of plastic, metal and wire shattered on the floor.

He'd been so worried, even after Davenport reinstalled the Triton App block in all of them. Douglas overrode it once and he could do it again. And again, Leo could get hurt. It's a sense of security for Chase that he's got his Override App in case Adam and Bree ever get taken over, but what about him? He was counting on Leo to be able to stop him, worse came to worst.

He cleans up the scraps and throws away his invention, still thinking. The day he and his siblings got taken over and wreaked havoc on the house and their family is still pretty fuzzy. He remembers thinking everything was safe, and then he remembers waking up on the floor.

There were some confusing parts in between, flashes of Tasha and Davenport ducking for cover. And Leo, Leo being brave even though he was terrified, pleading with Chase to _remember_.

It worked. It's muddy and hard to remember through the haze of the Triton App, but it did work.

So maybe Chase doesn't need a shutdown switch. Maybe he just needs his brother.

Maybe Leo's enough.


End file.
